Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast episode 578!
Today's guest is Nicole Keller who is an active solo and chamber music recitalist and clinician in the United States and abroad. She enjoys exploring all aspects of organ repertoire, especially pairing new music for the instrument with the staples of the repertoire. She performs regularly as a solo and collaborative artist on the organ, piano and harpsichord, exploring organ duo repertoire with Timothy Olsen, Kenan Professor of Organ at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC. She is on faculty at the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music in Berea, Ohio and is Associate Organist at Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland.
Ms. Keller's extensive church music experience includes work in with volunteer and professional choirs and instrumental ensembles devoted to the highest level of music for worship. She is devoted to the development of amateur and volunteer choristers and musicians of every age level. Ms. Keller has created organ and choral scholar programs at small to mid size parishes, developed successful children's choir programs, and led choirs on tour including a residency at Bristol Cathedral in the UK in the summer of 2011 with concerts at Bath Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral.
In April of 2011 Ms. Keller won first prize in the North American round of the Michael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition, earning a place in the second round in Kaliningrad, Russia in September. In Kaliningrad she was awarded the Special Shabyt Prize from the Kazakh National University of Arts in Astana, Kazakhstan for “the most promising organist for inspiration and luck” which included a recital in Astana and a CD recording.
In August of 2010 Ms. Keller was an instructor in the Internationale Orgelakademie at St. Stephan’s Cathedral in Passau, Germany. The course focused on American and English organ music and included students from several countries in Europe. In conjunction with the course, she played a recital at St. Stephan’s Cathedral and at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Waldkirchen with Dr. Horst Buchholz, Director of Music at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.
Ms. Keller received the Performer’s Certificate and the Master of Music Degree in Organ Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York under the tutelage of David Higgs. While at Eastman, she studied continuo with Arthur Haas and improvisation with Dr. Gerre Hancock. She received the Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance from the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music in Berea, Ohio, studying piano with George Cherry and Jean Stell and organ with Margaret Scharf.
In this conversation Nicole shares her insights about the importance of listening to a lot of other music besides organ.
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